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Report on the Select Committee on the Care & Upbringing of Children

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Report on the Select Committee on the Care & Upbringing of Children PP 2014/0121 REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE CARE AND UPBRINGING OF CHILDREN (PETITION FOR REDRESS) 2014-15 REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE CARE AND UPBRINGING OF CHILDREN (PETITION FOR REDRESS) On 10th December 2013 it was resolved – That a committee of three Members be appointed with powers to take written and oral evidence pursuant to sections 3 and 4 of the Tynwald Proceedings Act 1876, as amended, to consider and to report to Tynwald by June 2014 on the Petition for Redress of Mr Philip James Walmsley presented at St John’s on 5th July 2013 seeking a review of the law relating to the care and upbringing of children, especially in cases of broken marriages and other relationships. The powers, privileges and immunities relating to the work of a committee of Tynwald are those conferred by sections 3 and 4 of the Tynwald Proceedings Act 1876, sections 1 to 4 of the Privileges of Tynwald (Publications) Act 1973 and sections 2 to 4 of the Tynwald Proceedings Act 1984. Committee Membership Mr J R Turner MLC (Chairman) Mrs K J Beecroft MHK (Douglas South) Hon P A Gawne MHK (Rushen) Copies of this Report may be obtained from the Tynwald Library, Legislative Buildings, Finch Road, Douglas IM1 3PW (Tel 01624 685520, Fax 01624 685522) or may be consulted at www.tynwald.org.im All correspondence with regard to this Report should be addressed to the Clerk of Tynwald, Legislative Buildings, Finch Road, Douglas IM1 3PW. In Tynwald STH July 2013 To the Honourable members of Tynwald Court The Humble Petition of: Mr Philip James Walmsley 18 Ballachrink, Colby, IM9 4PB Shewith that: Since 2010 I have been trying to gain reasonable, regular contact with my son now 4 years old, of whom I have parental responsibility for. I am currently only seeing him for 3 hours contact on a Saturday. In October 2011 I contacted an advocate regarding contact suddenly stopping, after a wait of two months nothing happened so I changed advocates in December 2011. It took from December 2011 to November 2012 to get the case back into court. This led to my not seeing my son in excess of a year, through no fault of my own. Contact sessions finally started in January 2013 via the childrens centre located in Derby Square Douglas supervised at his mother's request. I had previously had a period of supervised contact sessions in 2010, once again at his mother's request. Both times I have been proven by the court welfare officer to be a caring, responsible parent and of no risk to my son. The contact sessions of 2013 started to go downhill rapidly, my son came out with some very disturbing comments, leading me to believe his mother was alienating him from me. At this point I chose to put in an application for residence of my son. Dr Cheryl Smith a child psychologist was ordered to carry out a report. in May 2013, on being away from the confines of the contact centre and with the psychologists involvement, contact sessions started to improve, my son stopped coming out with the comments he was making and started to interact more with me. The child psychologist's report concluded that there should be no reason why with promotion from both me and my son's mother contact could not go extremely well. My son had two hours and forty minutes with myself and my family one Saturday, under the watchful eye of Dr Smith, and asked to stay longer. At the last court hearing, I asked for a shared residence order to be considered, the Deemster overseeing the case, stated that it would be very unlikely I gain shared residence of my son, and ordered two three-hour unsupervised contacts, and four four-hour unsupervised contacts every Saturday for 6 weeks. He also stated that it may be possible to have one overnight stay in the future. I live with my partner and our 4 children. My oldest son, aged 11, has lived with me at least three days a week the majority of his life. I have always had regular contact and recently he has chosen to move in with myself and partner permanently. My partner's two boys, aged 5 and 2, I have taken on as my own and my 7 month old daughter I see and care for on a daily basis. As a father around children every day of my life, to be told I can only see my son for a few hours on a Saturday, is appalling. I am not being allowed to give my son an upbringing, and he is being denied a proper father/son relationship with me, and the stability of having two parents caring for him, albeit separately. Wherefore your petitioner seeks that A Committee be established to review the law relating to care and upbringing of children, especially in cases of broken marriages and other relationships, with the special task of examining the ways of introducing law to ensure that: With regards to child residence and contact cases, that both parents have equal rights and responsibilities over their child, where there is no history of domestic abuse, neglect or violence from either parent. Parents must attend a minimum of 3 compulsory mediation sessions before even entering a court room, in an attempt to resolve any underlying problems or issues, the cost of which should be shared by both parents. Should mediation sessions fail both parents should attend court hearings without an advocate. No parent should be disadvantaged in that one has legal representation and the other does not. The overall outcome should be based on the child not the parents and who has the best legal representative. If both parents can provide a stable family home for the child, shared residence orders should be issued (Shared residence not necessarily meaning time split 50 50, but the same amount of input and promotion in the child's life of both parents and equal rights and responsibility of the child for both parents) Major decisions regarding schooling etc, should be agreed by both parents. If parents can't come to agreements over major decisions, a Deemster will take both parents wishes into account, and make a decision in the best interests of the child. Neither parent should be disadvantaged in a court room, both parents should be entitled to equal time and access to their children, whether the relationship between the parents be acrimonious or not. The Children's contact centre should only be used where there is proven danger to a child, or to establish contact for older children. The contact centre should have massive input in court proceedings and should be able to make decisions themselves without the courts' being involved. They see the day to day aspects of child contact/residence cases. Table of Contents I. THE COMMITTEE AND THE INVESTIGATION ................................................... 1 II. THE PETITIONER’S EXPERIENCE OF THE LEGAL SYSTEM................................... 1 III. SUBSTANTIVE LAW: CHILDREN’S RIGHTS AND PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITIES... 2 IV. MEDIATION AS A PRECONDITION FOR ACCESS TO THE COURT AND TO LEGAL AID ..................................................................................................................... 5 V. LEVELLING DOWN.......................................................................................... 8 VI. THE CHILDREN’S CENTRE...............................................................................10 CIRCUMSTANCES IN WHICH THE CHILDREN’S CENTRE IS USED 10 CHILDREN’S CENTRE INPUT INTO COURT PROCEEDINGS 11 VII. AN ALTERNATIVE DELIVERY MODEL FOR MEDIATION....................................12 VIII. CONSOLIDATED LIST OF CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ...............14 ORAL EVIDENCE ...................................................................................................17 7TH MARCH 2014 EVIDENCE OF MRS PAT INGRAM, FAMILY COURT WELFARE SERVICE, AND MISS DEBORAH BRAYSHAW, DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL CARE 19 31ST MARCH 2014 EVIDENCE OF MRS TINA HALL, MEDIATOR 47 7TH MAY 2014 EVIDENCE OF MR JOHN KNIGHT AND MRS JO THOMAS, ISLE OF MAN CHILDREN’S CENTRE 69 7TH MAY 2014 EVIDENCE OF MRS JUDY ARNOLD, CRUSE BEREAVEMENT CARE 87 28TH MAY 2014 EVIDENCE OF MR KEVIN O’RIORDAN AND MRS HAZEL SMITH, ADVOCATES 101 13TH JUNE 2014 EVIDENCE OF MR FRANK HANNA, MEDIATOR 127 WRITTEN EVIDENCE ...........................................................................................149 APPENDIX 1 CHILDREN & YOUNG PERSONS ACT 2001, SECTIONS 1 TO 3 151 APPENDIX 2 SUBMISSION DATED 16TH JANUARY 2014 FROM HM ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL 157 APPENDIX 3 SUBMISSION DATED 3RD MARCH 2014 FROM THE LEGAL AID COMMITTEE 167 APPENDIX 4 SUBMISSION DATED 25TH JANUARY 2014 FROM THE GENERAL REGISTRY INCORPORATING A NOTE FROM HM SECOND DEEMSTER 171 APPENDIX 5 UPDATE PROVIDED ON 3RD MARCH 2014 BY THE GENERAL REGISTRY ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON LEGAL AID IN FAMILY MATTERS 187 APPENDIX 6 SUBMISSION DATED 24TH DECEMBER 2013 FROM THE FAMILY COURT WELFARE SERVICE 191 APPENDIX 7 SUBMISSION DATED 20TH JANUARY 2014 FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL CARE 197 APPENDIX 8 SUBMISSION DATED 1ST APRIL 2014 FROM HON EDDIE TEARE MHK, TREASURY MINISTER 201 APPENDIX 9 SUBMISSION DATED 8TH APRIL 2014 FROM MR KEVIN O’RIORDAN, ADVOCATE 207 APPENDIX 10 SUBMISSION DATED 22ND MAY 2014 FROM MRS HAZEL SMITH, ADVOCATE 213 APPENDIX 11 SUBMISSION DATED 17TH JANUARY 2014 FROM THE CHILDREN’S CENTRE 221 APPENDIX 12 SUBMISSION DATED 15TH MAY 2014 FROM JUDY ARNOLD, CRUSE BEREAVEMENT CARE 225 APPENDIX 13 SUBMISSION DATED 27TH AUGUST 2014 FROM MALCOLM DEAR 231 APPENDIX 14 SUBMISSION DATED 18TH MARCH 2014 FROM STEPHEN HOLMES 235 APPENDIX 15 SUBMISSION DATED 21ST JANUARY 2014 FROM ANNE KELLY 241 APPENDIX 16 SUBMISSION DATED 20TH JANUARY 2014 FROM MICHELE WIRTZ 245 APPENDIX 17 SUBMISSION DATED 30TH JANUARY 2014 FROM A MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC 249 APPENDIX 18 SUBMISSION DATED 11TH JUNE 2014 FROM MR FRANK HANNA 253 APPENDIX 19 MEDIATION AGENCY PAPER DATED JUNE 2008 271 To: The Hon Clare M Christian, President of Tynwald, and the Hon Council and Keys in Tynwald assembled REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE CARE AND UPBRINGING OF CHILDREN (PETITION FOR REDRESS) I.
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